On… two most central tests of a free press –
war and the disposition of political power – our media failed miserably, with
severe consequences we may not yet be able to fully imagine…

This media system is not natural, it does not
result from a free market. Rather, it is shaped by corrupt policies and
subsidies made secretly by powerful corporate interests and their political
bagmen in Washington, D.C. and the state capitols…

The same firms that dominate journalism tend
to dominate everything else, and the same corrupt policymaking that has
permitted journalism to deteriorate is wreaking havoc on our media culture
everywhere. Some of the flaws in our political journalism are deep seated and
are owed to commercial control of the press and to the professional code which
emerged roughly a century a century ago… It is the current commissars of the
U.S. media system who are the interlopers; they are the ones who have betrayed
democracy…

As veteran journalist Bill Moyers noted in an
address to the 2005 National Conference on Media Reform that bemoaned the
president patterns in major media news programs: ‘Objectivity is
not satisfied by two opposing people offering competing opinions, leaving the
viewer to split the difference.’
Rather, Moyers noted in the lonely voice of the boy who asserted that the
emperor had no clothes, ‘objective journalism means describing the
object being reported on, including the little fibs and fantasies as well as
the Big Lie of the people in power.’

it becomes clear that partisan journalism had
its strengths, not the least of which was its tendency to contextualize
political issues so that citizens could recognize seemingly random events as
part of a coherent pattern,

Palestinians committed a grave crime by
Western standards. They voted ‘the wrong way.’The United States instantly joined Israel in punishing Palestinians
for their misconduct, with Europe toddling along behind as usual. There is
nothing novel about the reaction to these Palestinian ‘misdeeds.’ Though
it is obligatory to hail our leaders for their sincere dedication to bringing
democracy to a suffering world, perhaps in an excess of idealism, the more
serious scholar/advocates of the mission of ‘democracy promotion’ recognize
that there is a ‘strong line of continuity’ running through all
administrations: the United supports democracy if and only if it confirms to
U.S. stategic and economic interests. In short, the project is pure cynicism,
if viewed honestly. And quite commonly, the U.S. project should be described as
one of blocking democracy, not promoting it. Dramatically so in the case of
Palestine.

Een van de talloze Israelische bombardementen van het bevolkingsrijke Gaza. De Nederlandse 'politiek-literaire elite,' waar volgens Henk Hofland 'een natie niet zonder [kan],' is hierover muisstil omdat ze weet wat ze absoluut niet mag vertellen.The punishment of Palestinians for the crime
of voting the wrong way was severe. With constant U.S. backing, Israel increased
its violence in Gaza, withheld funds that it was legally obligated to transmit
to the Palestinian Authority, tightened its siege, and in a gratuitous act of
cruelty, even cut off the flow of water to the arid Gaza Strip. The Israeli
attacks became far more severe after the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit on
june 25, 2006, which the West portrayed as a terrible crime. Again, pure
cynicism. Just one day before, Israel kidnapped two civilians in Gaza – a far
worsde crime than capturing a soldier – and transported them to Israel (in
violation of international law, but that is routine), where they presumably
joined the roughly one thousand prisoners held by Israel without charges, hence
kidnapped. None of this merits more than a yawn in the West.

There is non eed here to run through the ugly
details, but the U.S.-Israel maden sure that Hamas would not have a chance to
govern. And of course, the two leaders of the rejectionist camp flatly rejected
Hamas’s call for a long-term cease-fire to allow for negotiations in terms of
the international consensus on a two-state settlement, which the United States
and Israel reject, as they have done in virtual isolation for over thirty
years, with rare and temporary departures.

Meanwhile, Israel stepped up its programs of
annexation, dismemberment, and imprisonment of shrinking Palestinian cantons in
the West Bank, always with decisive U.S. backing despite occasional minor
complaints, accompanied by the wink of an eye and munificent funding.

There is a standard operating procedure for
overthrowing an unwanted government: arm the military to prepare for a military
coup. The U.S.-Israel adopted this conventional plan, arming and training Fatah
to win by force what it lost at the ballot box… They have now a pretext for
tightening the stranglehold on the people of Gaza, cheerfully pursuing policies
that the prominent international law scholar Richard Falk describes as a
prelude to genocide that ‘should remind the world of the famous post-Nazi pledge of ‘never
again,'

While the Middle East lurches from crisis to
crisis, its greatest challenge today is probably not what most people think.
It’s jobs. With 65 percent of the region’s population under the age of 25, the
Middle East has the fastest-growing labor force of any part of the world. This
youth bulge is surging onto the labor market like a massive demographic
tsunami. Just to keep pace with population growth, the Middle East must create
80 million new jobs over the next 15 years. And if it hopes to put a dent in
its already high unemployment rate of 15 percent, it must create 100 million
new jobs by 2020—a near doubling of today’s total employment. To put this into
perspective, the Middle East must create jobs at twice the pace of the United
States in the go-go Clinton years, in an increasingly competitive international
environment that is already accommodating the rise of India and China. Without making
deep structural reforms, Middle East governments will never be able to meet the
employment needs of its increasingly disaffected youth—a stark fact that, left
unaddressed, leaves an entire generation ripe for radicalization. Unemployment
is a problem throughout Arab society, but it is most acutely a youth issue.
Fifty percent of those unemployed are between the ages of 15 and 24.
Unemployment is also highest among those with some formal education. In the
past, these young graduates could expect employment in the public sector, but
as formal education has significantly expanded over the past generation and
government coffers have come under increasing pressure, the public sector can
no longer absorb what public school systems produce.

Nelson Mandela was the head of UmKhonto we Sizwe, (MK), the terrorist
wing of the ANC and South African Communist Party. At his trial, he had pleaded
guilty to 156 acts of public violence including mobilising terrorist bombing
campaigns, which planted bombs in public places, including the Johannesburg
railway station. Many innocent people, including women and children, were
killed by Nelson Mandela’s MK terrorists. Here are some highlights

Two of the ANC’s biggest donors, in the 1990s, were Colonel Muammar
Gaddafi of Libya and President Suharto of Indonesia. Not only did Mandela
refrain from criticising their lamentable human rights records but he
interceded diplomatically on their behalf, and awarded them South Africa's
highest honor. Suharto was awarded a state visit, a 21-gun salute, and The
Order of Good Hope (gold class).

The apartheid regime was a crime against
humanity; as illogical as it was cruel. It is tempting, therefore, to simplify
the subject by declaring that all who opposed it were wholly and unswervingly
good. It’s important to remember, however, that Mandela has been the first to
hold his hands up to his shortcomings and mistakes. In books and speeches, he
goes to great length to admit his errors. The real tragedy is that too many in
the West can’t bring themselves to see what the great man himself has said all along;
that he’s just as flawed as the rest of us, and should not be put on a
pedestal.http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/

He was offered early release by President PW Botha if
he would renounce violence. He stubbornly refused.

Tellingly, not only did
Mandela refuse to renounce violence, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL refused to take his
case stating '[the] movement recorded that it could not give the name of
‘Prisoner of Conscience’ to anyone associated with violence, even though as in
‘conventional warfare’ a degree of restraint may be exercised.'

In January 1974, while covering “what the history books call ‘Kissinger’s first Sinai Disengagement Shuttle,’” (the prominent Brittish journalist Russell Warren) Howe conducted a television interview with former terrorist, then-opposition leader and future Prime Minister Menachem Begin. As he recalled in his 'Seeing the Light' column:

“The red light had come on, under the lens. Without preamble, I turned my shoulder to the camera, stared straight into Begin’s eyes, and asked: ‘How does it feel, in the light of all that’s going on, to be the father of terrorism in the Middle East?’

‘In the Middle East?’ he bellowed, in his thick, cartoon accent. ‘In all the world!‘

Howe concluded his article with Ben-Gurion’s words to him in 1968:

‘American Jews! I hate them!’ he said in his passionate Slavonic way, at one point in that evening in 1968. ‘They’ll do anything for Israel except live in the place!’

'Perhaps because then I ‘understood nothing,’ I was shocked and reminded Ben-Gurion, ‘They’re very generous toward Israel.’

Today, the Knesset honors the memory of Avraham Stern, “Yair”, fighter for the freedom of Israel, commander of the fighting underground, philosopher, poet and intellect, lover of his people and his country, zealous and passionate in his beliefs, desperately dedicated to his mission.

One hundred years have passed since “Yair” was born, but he only lived for 35 stormy years until he was murdered in the prime of his life, in cold blood, by an officer of the British secret police in a safe house in the Florentine neighborhood of Tel Aviv. On the monument erected in his memory by his comrades and subordinates on the way to Jerusalem, a line from his poem, “For You Are Sacred to Me, My Homeland!” is engraved:'

NRC zou hebben moeten concluderen dat Netanyahu zichzelf impliciet had gekwalificeerd als 'oneerbaar.' Dit was journalistiek fatsoenlijker geweest dan net te doen alsof Netanyahu in de morele positie verkeert om Mandela serieus te beoordelen. Waar is toch die Nederlandse 'politiek-literaire elite' wanneer ze nodig is?Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Speech at the Special Knesset Session Marking 100 Years Since the Birth of the Late Avraham Stern (“Yair”), de zionistische terrorist van de LEHI, It carried out the November 1944 assassination in Cairo of Lord Moyne, along with several attacks on the British administration in Palestine. It was described as a terrorist organization by the British authorities[6] and was banned by the newly-formed Israeli government under an anti-terrorism law passed three days after the group's September 1948 assassination of the UN mediator Folke Bernadotte.[7] The United Nations Security Council called the assassins "a criminal group of terrorists,"[8] and Lehi was similarly condemned by subsequent United Nations mediator Ralph Bunche.[9]Joodse terroristen mogen van het zogeheten 'Verlichte, democratische' Westen datgene doen wat niet Joodse terroristen niet mogen doen. Het is een duidelijk voorbeeld van het huidige omgekeerde antisemitisme dat joden nog steeds als een ander soort beschouwt.

West Bank settlement firms not invited to Dutch-Israeli cooperation forumTorn between interests of Israeli hosts and commitments given to public, Holland feels heat ahead of economic cooperation forum.

Haaretz, 6 December 2013By Amira HassOnly days before the Netherlands-Israel Cooperation Forum kicks off in Herzliya, the Dutch government is being pushed to publically clarify its policies against cooperation with Israeli businesses in the settlements - or those who are connected to Israeli rule in the West Bank - and to declare that such businesses will not be invited to participate in the Forum seminars.The forum is intended to deepen the economic relations between Holland and Israel, with a focus on the fields of agricultural technology, water and energy. Senior government officials from both countries – including the prime ministers, foreign ministers and economic ministers of each – are due to attend, evidencing the importance each nation attributes to the forum.But the Dutch government now finds itself facing a severe conflict of interests. Their Israeli hosts - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett - are pushing the economic interests of the settlements, while Holland has promised its public that it will avoid any economic cooperation with West Bank settlement entities.Last week, Dutch journalists, members of parliament and lawyers commented in various ways on the contradiction between the Dutch government's stated policy and its activities with the Cooperation Forum: The website of the Dutch Embassy in Tel Aviv recently included names of factories located in the settlements or who operate in the West Bank in a list of parties interested in meeting with Dutch businessmen who are coming to the forum as part of the official delegation.In addition, the Dutch did not plan on including the “Territorial Clause,” which would stipulate that the forum only take place in sovereign Israel, in the memorandum of understanding that is being formulated for the event.The wording of the agreement defining the forum's activity has not yet been finalized, and the outcome is expected to be an important test of the applicability of the European Union's settlement guidelines and of the political will behind the Dutch government’s declarations.Last Tuesday, the Dutch government voted on a resolution demanding Holland explicitly exclude the "settlement economy" from its economic cooperation agreements with Israel. The resolution, proposed by the opposition Socialist Party, was defeated in parliament by a vote of 77 to 73, but despite its failure, the debate and pressure on the government have not calmed down.Thirteen professors of international law sent a letter to Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, criticizing his statements from last week in a debate in Parliament. Timmermans, of the Labor Party, stated that since the forum does not have legal status, there is no reason to include a territorial clause.The professors wrote in response: “It was the Dutch government that initiated the intensification of the bilateral relations with Israel, which resulted in the creation of the Netherlands-Israel Cooperation Forum. The government formalizes, supports, and is a co-organizer of this forum, and it therefore bears responsibility for the forum as a whole.”The writers stated in their letter that if the joint memorandum of understanding fails to include an explicit reference to the Dutch position on the matter, the nation's ability to prevent participation in the settlements project, “which is in violation of international law,” will be weakened.The Netherlands stands at the forefront of international law and must preserve its reputation as such, they wrote, reminding readers that the International Court of Justice is located within the country's borders.After the resolution was rejected, members of four left-wing opposition parties presented Timmermans with official questions in parliament. He answered them on Wednesday in writing. Technically, Timmermans wrote, it was not possible to filter out the names of the companies from the settlements who signed up to participate, but “the Dutch government hasn’t invited any companies from settlements to any component of the Forum. This also applies to the workshops.“If a Dutch company registers for a meeting with an Israeli company in view of activities in or in the interest of settlements, then contact will be established with this Dutch firm and attention will be drawn to the Dutch discouragement policy," wrote Timmermans.“If a Dutch company still wants to proceed with the meeting, the message will be that the Dutch government cannot offer services to this company," he continued, "The organization in the context of the forum of a match-making event is a service. Therefore, such a company will not be present at the forum or a networking reception."“The Dutch Embassy in Tel Aviv has informed the Israeli government that the discouragement policy is applicable to the cooperation forum. Israel has taken note of that,” wrote Timmermans.The Dutch foreign minister reported that the Palestinian Authority requested to limit the forum’s activities to the June 4, 1967 borders. The Netherlands had made it clear, Timmermans said, that the Dutch policy was still in force: that all the territories annexed to Israel after 1967 (including those in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights) are not being considered part of Israeli territory.Between December 7 and 9, a business mission from the Netherlands led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Lillianne Ploumen will lead forums in Israel and Ramallah, which will deal with economic cooperation between Holland and Israel, and Holland and the Palestinian Authority, respectively.Rutte and Timmermans’ counterparts, both Israeli and Palestinian, will also be present at the respective forums. Dutch businesspeople from the water management, energy, gas and agriculture sectors will play an important role in the mission, and meet with representatives from Israeli and Palestinian companies from these sectors.The forums, slated to take place every two years, are meant to strengthen economic ties with Holland, though ties with Israeli companies are worth far more to Holland economically and technologically. In 2012, trade between Israel and the Netherlands reached a peak at over $5 billion. The Netherlands’ support budget for the Palestinian Authority between 2012 and 2015 is 65 million euros, 35 million of which is spent on security, good governance and rule of law, with 9 million going toward water management and sanitation systems.http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.562151 <http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.562151>